What is democracy? Who defines democracy? Distinguished scholars and officials gathered in Beijing on Thursday to join a dialogue to find out more about the definition of democracy and the competing narratives behind it. During the dialogue, Kishore Mahbubani, a distinguished fellow at the National University of Singapore's Asia Research Institute, said in recent years, the U.S. is functioning as a plutocracy instead of a democracy. He said democracy is the government of the people by the people and for the people. However, in the U.S., it is money that has the right to free speech and decision-making.